Traders under Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) umbrella have welcomed the Cabinet’s move to have anti-counterfeiting goods Bill withdrawn from Parliament.
Speaking to this Website, the association Chairman Everest Kayondo said that traders already had issues with the bill especially fines and penalties.
According to the Cabinet, there are other laws in the constitution that can address the gap on counterfeit goods thus resolving to have the bill curtailed.
The Bill was introduced in 2015 with the aim of combating the importation and sale of counterfeit products on the Ugandan domestic market.
This same bill has been ready for second reading for two years with the ministry of trade often asking for more time to seek a common cabinet
position.
It should be noted on Tuesday afternoon, the Minister of state for Trade Michael Werikhe has told Parliament to forget the Bill.
Mr Werikhe also told Parliament that the ministry has submitted a guiding document to cabinet on how the existing laws will be reviewed to cater for the primary objectives of the Bill.
The report from the Parliamentary committee on Trade, Tourism and Industry recommended in 2016 that the Bill be withdrawn, citing similar grounds.
Object of the Bill
The proposed bill seeks to prohibit trade in counterfeit goods that infringe upon protected intellectual property rights; to require intellectual property rights to cover only copyright and trademarks and to prohibit release of counterfeit goods into the channels of commerce.
It also seeks to create offences relating to trade in counterfeit goods, empower the Commissioner General to seize and detain suspected counterfeit goods, allow inspectors appointed by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards to seize and detain suspected counterfeit goods and to provide for incidental (related) matters.
